Name/TitleBadge: Interlocking Venus symbols
About this objectRound badge with orange background featuring interlocking Venus symbols (representing Sapphic love) in black.
Medium and MaterialsInorganic, metal and plastic
Subject and Association KeywordsLGBTQ+
Subject and Association Descriptionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_symbols#Venus:
The Venus symbol, ♀, consists of a circle with a small cross below it. It has been interpreted as a depiction of the hand-mirror of the goddess, which may also explain Venus's association with the planetary metal copper, as mirrors in antiquity were made of polished copper (alloy), though this is not certain. In the Greek Oxyrhynchus Papyri 235, the symbols for Venus and Mercury didn't have the cross on the bottom stroke, and Venus still appears without the cross (⚲) in Johannes Kamateros (12th century). In botany and biology, the symbol for Venus is used to represent the female sex, alongside the symbol for Mars representing the male sex, following a convention introduced by Linnaeus in the 1750s. Arising from the biological convention, the symbol also came to be used in sociological contexts to represent women or femininity.
Named CollectionGlasgow Women's Library
Object TypeBadge
Object numberGWL-2015-111-10
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved